• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

osborne 1

Fooser said:
Lorne, I just might take you up on your offer if it is still good in April. The ability to get the ram and drive alignment tested is just too good to pass up. I'll be camping during that time at Lake Pleasant for two weeks during the Cactus League spring training season. Perhaps we can meet up then? In any case, I greatly appreciate your suggestions.

I'm not as good at hardware as many of you and would rather try the easy methods first. That way I may prevent adding insult to injury. :)

Thanks again.
-Don
Click to expand...

April should be fine - send me a PM when you're ready.
 
1ajs said:
when i touch the conector where the kb plugs in the screen will flicker a bit duno if that means anything
Click to expand...

Probably just means a loose connection.

In your case, you're probably better off trying the keyboard from your other Osborne 1, on the machine in question.
If that works, then you should take the connector cable off that good keyboard, and try it on the questionable keyboard (to see if it's the cable or the keyboard itself).
 
All here,

FYI, I have one good working Osborne 1, but perhaps more importantly also a bunch pf parts from one that I've disassembled.
If anyone is looking for some replacement parts, I have:

- one good working motherboard
- one good working crt
- one good working keyboard
- two disk drives; 1 definitely questionable, 1 possibly working

If anyone is interested in any of this, please let me know. Reasonable offers accepted.

smp
 
Boot from B:

Boot from B:

Have you tried a boot from B: drive:

1. Power on unit. (That's important. Step 2 must be done straight after power on.)

2. At the 'Insert disk in Drive A and press RETURN' prompt, simultaneously press the following two keys:
SHIFT key (either one), and the COMMA key that is above the RETURN key

Unit will then attempt to boot from the right hand drive (which is now A: - left drive is now B:)

I'm unsure whether the above procedure works for all ROM revisions, or just later ones.
 
..and if the above doesn't work it could be one or several of the following...

  • The boot disk could be faulty (Likely if it's been sitting around for a while. Can you test it on another Osborne? Hopefully it doesn't look like this . If so it's history and it's probably made the drive heads dirty)
  • The drive heads are dirty (clean them with a cleaning disk or disassemble and manually (but carefully) clean them with a Q-tip and isoprophyl alcohol)
  • The drive is going at the wrong speed (check the speed. There are strobe markings on the flywheel)
  • The drive is mis-aligned (You need real expertise and some gear to tackle this job)
  • The drive electronics are faulty
  • The disk controller could be faulty (a major diagnostic task)
If you do manage to get the other drive acting as the boot drive as per modem7's instructions and it still doesn't work I would suspect a bad disk, the disk controller or dirty heads (both drives can have these). It's less likely to be speed and/or alignment on BOTH drives but it's still possible. It's highly unlikely that both drives would have faulty circuitboards.

My first step would be to get a known good disk. Without that you are kind of shooting in the dark. You can make one if you have a older PC. Alternatively is there anyone nearby with an Osborne you can try your disk in to see if it works (or can make you a disk)?

If the disk checks out ok, it's time to turn to the Osborne technical manual, which can be found here.

Good luck

Tez
 
modem7 said:
Have you tried a boot from B: drive:

1. Power on unit. (That's important. Step 2 must be done straight after power on.)

2. At the 'Insert disk in Drive A and press RETURN' prompt, simultaneously press the following two keys:
SHIFT key (either one), and the COMMA key that is above the RETURN key
Click to expand...

To save any confusion by others reading this later (and missing the part about the COMMA key that is above the RETURN key) that would be the single or double quotation mark key.
IE: the key combination is SHIFT "
" being the same as ' without the shift key being pressed.
 
1ajs said:
so i swaped keyboards 1 step forward now it trys the drive and says boot error.

see here
http://youtu.be/bRd_ARLwaaY

opend it up again found A drive was on the wrong side so moved it seems to of not made any difference
Click to expand...

First - it sounds like your keyboard or the keyboard cable is toast. Try swapping the cable from the good keyboard to the bad keyboard, so you can rule out which part is the problem.

Second - I'd bet the drive is out of alignment, or the head is otherwise messed up. It's a portable computer so that wouldn't be surprising. Why not take a working drive from the other Osborne, and see if it'll boot using that drive.

As you've got two Osborne's, it's just a process of elimination - find out what's bad by substitution.
 
got it working i tried the other floppy it came with after trying the shift " thing. either the cp/m to system disk is bad? or is not a bootable floppy i duno

anyhow this machean came with 2 floppys in a sleave. one as labled above and another thats not lable that boots the system.

going through the floppies i allready have i've got

DB11
supercalc
wordstar
Cbasic to Mbasic
cpm
bunch mystry disks << might a game or 2 buried in those if i remember corectly
wordstar mailmerg??
pdp sig cbasc
cm/p 2.2 system utility

all this stuff has double density version written on them

the ones that came with this exact machean don't say dd on them or anything to that nature


so apears i got her working after a bit of a silly fail on my part o well i swapped that drave back over to the proper side

won't read anything on Bdrive though just goes bad sector even with nothing in it so prolly have to tare it apart.


as for my other machean any advice on getting a striped case screw out?? as i can't open it up and also like to swap the handles as its got a mint one that i should treat and swap onto this one
 
Last edited:
1ajs said:
as for my other machean any advice on getting a striped case screw out?? as i can't open it up and also like to swap the handles as its got a mint one that i should treat and swap onto this one
Click to expand...

Good to hear you got one of them working.

As for the screw, how about a really long drill bit and a very steady hand (to hold the drill vertical in both directions) and then drill the top off the screw.
Are you planning on trying to get both of them working? (if not, just screw it :) and take the drives out of one of them to use in the other one.
 
1ajs said:
all this stuff has double density version written on them

the ones that came with this exact machean don't say dd on them or anything to that nature
Click to expand...
So, if the only floppy you can boot from is one of the ones supplied with the machine (i.e. none of your existing bootable double-density floppies boot), then maybe the newly acquired Osborne does not have the optional double-density option, and thus is unable to boot from double-density formatted floppies. I'm not an Osborne expert, and so perhaps someone who is will confirm that possibility.
 
maybe

i know my disks worked on my other machean when it was working. witch came from a mine

did some of these come with differt drive options then?
 
Last edited:
There were different ROMs for different drive and format support; some were third-party. The first O1s had single-density (FM), single-sided 35-cylinder format--they held a whopping 90KB. Then there were upgrades to both single-and double-sided MFM. Compuline had a number of "Osmosis" upgrades to bot the disk drives and video. All take different boot floppies.

It helps to know what you have in the box.
 
61098048.jpg


11995255.jpg


mobog.jpg


drives.jpg
 
Last edited:
I believe the 1.44 ROM (in your photo) was the latest version.
I don't however, see the double density upgrade in those photos (usually a separate small board mounted on the main board), so so maybe yours are single density.
A double density machine will read a single density disk, but a single density machine will not read a double density disk.
Perhaps your other machine was a later Osborne which came as double density Osbornes.

What's the serial number of that machine?

I've got a couple Osmosis double density upgrade kits, but they'll only work with particular revisions of main boards, and with the 1.44 ROM (which you have).
What's the version number of your main board? (it's too small to see in the photo)
 
Congratulations on progress

Yes, like Lorne i do not see the double density board on your machine. This may be the issue.

Tez
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top